School Spirit
by DemiGardess
Summary: Found this while going through my notes, went "Why not?" and posted it. Note: I forgot this existed, FOUR HUNDRED READS?
1. AN

Yo.

I really couldn't be bothered to spellcheck, grammar check, or make new documents for this thing, so I just whacked it all down in one chapter and bowed out.

It sucks, I wrote it late at night, point out all my errors if you want but I probably won't do anything about them because I'm too lazy.


	2. School Spirit re-upload

**Isabelle.**

—

The idea of mundane school is a little exciting, and a little incredibly bleh.

It does mean that I'll finally get to show off my fashion skills to someone who appreciates them, but...homework?!

"Izzy, spend any more time on your eyeliner and we'll be late!" Clary yells, banging on my door.

"It's mascara!" I shout back, stowing the brush away with a huff. I hurriedly inspect my attire in the mirror - blue halter neck top, sequinned blue skirt, fishnet stockings and knee-high deep navy boots.

"IZZY!" Clary shouts from further away.

"I'M COMING!" I shout, flipping my hair over my shoulder with a huff.

—

To get to the school, we have to use the banana van.

Well, it's not a banana anymore.

Now it looks like an underripe lemon.

Simon tried, I can see that, but he still failed pretty epically. He's gripping the wheel very hard as Jace makes lots of dirty jokes about lemons, oblivious to the fact that Magnus is tying his shoelaces together with magic.

I'd pay to see Simon turn around and punch Jace in his irritatingly sexy face, but I think that might be a little too much to ask.

In the back, Alec is going over an emergency pack with Clary.

"Copy of Magnus's spell book?" Clary reads.

"Check." Alec taps the said book, and flinches when it sparks a little.

"Simon's emergency blood?"

"There's no way I'm touching that."

"Spare stele, and seraph blades."

"Check and check, this is literally the tenth time we've gone through this list, Clary."

"I know, I'm reading this because you suggested it."

"Let's go over the cover story, people!" Jace raises his voice, and his arms, nearly smacking Alec in the head.

"I'm Jace Lightwood, who answers to "Hot Stuff" and "Love Crumpet".I-Magnus, why are you laughing?"

Magnus mutters something about peapods and cabbages. "I'm adopted, stunningly attractive, Clary is my girlfriend and her mother is a family friend. Simon!"

"What?" Simon asks, looking like a deer in the headlights. "Cover story." Jace stage-whispers.

"Oh! I'm Simon Lewis, Clary's cousin. I went to the same homeschool as the Lightwoods after a falling-out with my mother."

A pause.

I poke him on the arm.

"You're forgetting something."

"Isabelle is my girlfriend?" He offers, sounding as though he expects me to rip off his head with my whip.

"Correct!" I smile at him to show him that he is forgiven.

"Clary, you're up!"

"I'm Clary Fray, girlfriend of Jace Lightwood. I stayed with the Lightwoods while my mother was in hospital from-"

"We're here!" Simon declares, cutting Clary off mid-sentence "Welcome to hell-I mean high school."

"Great!" Jace leaps to his feet, and falls over again.

Sometimes you've got to love Magnus and his little magic tricks.

—-

By first period, I'm already discovering just how hellish mundane high school is, and I still haven't had a proper class.

So far I've had homeroom, which was tolerable, and now I'm heading to Drama.

One problem is that I'm completely lost.

I frown at the map, and then at my timetable.

"G6 is there..." I mutter to myself "And if H2 is there, then K3 must be this way!"

Nope.

School layouts defy all logic.

—

 **Simon.**

—

I'm remembering how much I hate school. Especially when I'm the new kid.

"So we're meant to go there." Alec has pulled up the school site on his phone and is trying to navigate us "And I think we're here..."

"Then we have to somehow get through there." I summarise, pointing to the piranha tank that is the hallway.

"I wish Magnus was here." Alec complains "If not to direct us, then to get rid of all these girls trying to poke me!"

I have to stifle a snort at this one.

—

It's hilarious watching Alec try to figure out the combination lock.

He's twisting and pulling on it like mad, before he eventually pulls out his stele.

Mutely, I reach out and force his hands down.

"No stele. Maryse will get angry, and Maryse is scary even when she's not angry. Do not tell her I said that."

Red-faced, Alec looks to he seriously considering punching his locker open.

Before he can inflict any violence, Clary jogs up to the pair of us, a little red-faced herself.

"Got the bag." She passes it to me "I swear that every single girl we passed tried to flirt with Jace."

"Welcome back to high school." I say dramatically, spreading my hands.

—

Twenty minutes later, Alec and I are hopelessly late for first period.

We're trying to find C2, but instead we're lost somewhere around the Q block.

"This is ridiculous!" Alec snarls.

"Tell me about it." I laugh, then stiffen as a cold sensation ripples down my spine. My fangs snap out, and I raise a hand to cover them.

"What is it?" Alec asks, reaching for his empty belt "Is it-"

"Shhh!" I whisper, listening as hard as I can.

A tiny disturbance of air.

I turn to look, and nearly fall over.

The floor has just been mopped, and it's slippery as ice.

"It's gone." I manage tell Alec "And so are our chances of escaping detention."

—-

 **Magnus.**

—

Mundanes.

The word can be responded to with disgust, admiration, or a variation of the two.

Right now, I'm stuck pretty firmly on disgust.

So far, amorous advances have been made by four girls, two guys and a duck.

Jace ran shrieking at the sight of the duck, which was hilarious.

Sadly, I only have two classes with Alec, but not so sadly one of them is gym and I'll get to see him shirtless!

With this thought in my head, I set off for Science with a little spring in my step.

—

I wonder if I've gotten the wrong classroom.

Most people seem to have "Sleep" written on their timetables.

The teacher at the front of the room drones on and on about the respiratory system, oblivious to the fact that no one is listening.

On my left, Jace is doodling rude pictures in the margins of his notebook. The girl on my right is reading a comic concealed behind her textbook, the person behind me is asleep, and the guy in front of me is playing Flappy Golf on his laptop. Several people have tuned in to watch said Flappy Golf, and I soon find myself also watching.

Not long after that I become bored, and seriously consider setting a giant tarantula loose in the room for a bit of entertainment.

Instead, I start tying Jace's shoelaces together with magic.

Again.

If Catarina or Ragnor were here, I would probably be receiving a lecture on wasting magic.

"Mr Bane?"

I start, my elbow slipping off my desk, and accidentally pull Jace's whole shoe off. He shoots me a disgruntled look and ducks under the desk to get it.

"What did you say?" I ask the teacher "I stopped listening on your second sentence."

The teacher sighs patiently "I was asking you a question about the digestive system. Does food go down the trachea or the oesophagus?"

"The oesophagus." I say immediately.

After scrutinising me for a minute, the teacher continues the lecture, and this time I actually do fall asleep.

—

At the end of the lesson, Jace pulls my chair out from under me.

I fall with an unmanly yelp, and have to consciously stop myself from cursing Jace into next century.

"Do that again and you'll end up worse than a Forsaken." I snarl in his ear.

Jace waves his hands around.

"Ooh, the big scary warlock is angry!"

"Shut up, Herondale. I wish to be on time for Food Studies."

Jace makes a face.

"I wish Isabelle would take that class. Her peanut-olive-tomato soup was the terror of the Institute."

"Yes, Alec hid at my apartment for a few days." I recall.

—

The old gas oven in the cooking stall does not want to work.

Jace and I have tried to light the ancient contraption many times, but the spark won't catch.

At one point, Jace suggests the use of a fire rune, and I suggest that he's an idiot.

Finally, with a little sneaky magic, the stupid thing lights.

The recipe is quite basic, but Jace is somehow managing to mess it up.

There's no way I'm going to point this out to him. It's too entertaining.

—

"Just a little glamour." Jace groans "One. Tiny. Glamour."

"No." I say cheerfully "You messed up, you burned off your eyebrows. Not my problem."

Jace mumbles something unflattering and proceeds to draw his eyebrows back on with one of my markers.

I don't mention that he's using gold glitter glue.

—

 **Alec.**

—

I'm trying to keep an open mind on the subject of mundane school.

It's not working very well.

There was Simon and I getting lost to start with, then the really scary maths teacher, and then we got lost again on the way to second period!

And why did no one mention that you have to go through the theatre to get to J2?

Now it's recess.

I can see why Clary and Simon likened the cafeteria to a pit of Ravener demons.

I wonder how they know what a pit of Ravener demons is actually like.

"Come on, this way." Jace appears behind me, holding two trays. He hands one to me, and sets off at a brisk pace.

We exit the building into a small courtyard, where everyone else is sitting.

"Hey, did you do something to your eyebrows?" Simon asks, squinting at Jace.

He's got an opaque bottle of organic orange juice, with a squiggle of red marker that means it's blended with blood. His fangs have come out, and he can't quite talk right.

I take a closer look at Jace's eyebrows.

They look kind of sparkly.

"Jace, when and how did you manage to burn off your eyebrows." Clary demands.

Jace winces, and glares at Magnus, who is doing a terrific job of ignoring him.

"One. Tiny. Glamour." Jace growls.

"Pardon?" Magnus asks, looking at Jace with wide, innocent eyes.

What undermines this is the fact that he's lost the glamours on his eyes and teeth, a thing he told me happens when he's putting all his concentration into not laughing.

"Eyes, cat man." Simon mumbles around his bottle.

"Teeth, bloodsucker." Jace retorts.

"He wasn't talking to you, dummy." Clary defends her parabatai, and kicks Jace under the table.

"Ow!" Jace complains loudly "That hurt!"

"High pain threshold, my foot."

An awkward silence takes hold. Isabelle bangs down her bottle (which is actually organic orange juice) and begins to talk loudly.

"So, some of the girls in my drama class invited me to join the school drama club. Its on Tuesdays and Thursdays, their first meeting is tonight, and I am dragging Clary along because she can help design costumes."

"Nice." I turn my apple core over in my hand "It's Monday."

"I knew that."

"I'm considering joining the art club." Clary announces "Mondays and Wednesdays."

"I'm considering not joining any clubs, because someone needs to kill demons around here." Jace pokes his food with a plastic knife "What is this, and is it meant to be purple?"

"Magnus?" Isabelle and Clary both turn their heads to glare at my boyfriend at exactly the same time.

"Hmm?" Magnus asks, once again all innocent and cat-eyed.

Simon coughs loudly into his bottle, covering his mouth.

"EYES, cat man. Someone's coming."

A boy with black hair is wandering across the courtyard. Halfway, he freezes, looks at his hand, and bolts off.

"Teeth." Magnus resumes his banter with Simon.

"They're not like light switches, you know!"

"I can make them light switches."

"Magnus." I put him hand on his arm "Shut up. Boyfriends orders."

"Anything for you." Magnus smiles at me. His eyes - now warm brown - light up and crinkle at the edges in a fascinating way. The glitter around them catches the light, but his eyes are still brighter, and more beautiful than anything I have ever-

"Alec, as your parabatai, I'm going to stop you right there before you start ripping each others clothes off." Jace breaks the moment with his loud voice, and for a moment I feel like strangling him.

"Damnit, Jace!" Isabelle snaps.

"That was a perfect Malec moment." Simon chimes in.

"What's Malec?" I ask.

Jace grins very evilly, and I reconsider strangling him.

—

 **Clary.**

—

By the time art club comes around, I'm seriously ready for it. My creative juices have been blocked all day, apart from some fantasies (ft. Jace) in Health, where we were learning about the reproductive system.

It starts at three forty, half an hour after school ends, and ends at five.

It's run by a year twelve called Karen, and there are about a dozen people attending in total.

Today's basically a free-for-all, to show Karen your specialities, and what you're best at.

We get told what not to touch, what not to create, and that the music can't get louder than fifteen notches or Lego League will get mad at us.

After that, she leaves the room, saying something about collaborating with the drama club.

I suddenly realise that I have no idea where the canvases are.

"Hey, does anyone know where I can get a canvas?" I ask loudly.

Anna, a year eight who already has paint all over her hands, points out a dark green door in the wall.

"Thank you." I say, pushing open the door.

It bangs shut behind me, and the lights flicker on, revealing a horned skull right in front of me.

Despite everything I know, despite everything Jace taught me, I scream.

I scream, and leap backwards into the door as the lights go out again and plunge me into darkness.

The handle slips and jams as I try to open it, and buzzing fills my ears as I panic.

Giving up, I bang on the door.

"Somebody let me out!" I shout, using both fists against the door.

The lights turn on again, gruesome and grisly shadows being thrown against the wall.

Hands, heads, what looks like a snake, vials of stuff that I don't even want to think about.

 **[Holy cow, this is not something you want to write before going to sleep]**

The door swings open, revealing a confused Anna with paint now on her face.

"Sorry," I say hurriedly "Fake skull in my face, and the door handle jammed."

"Mm-kay." Anna raises her eyebrows "The light switch is here."

I flush a shade of crimson similar to my hair, and re-enter the storeroom.

The things I see are almost as scary in the harsh light, but I fix my gaze firmly on the blank canvases on the opposite side of the room.

It's like a maze of electric fences through that room, I don't want to touch anything.

The blank canvas is unwieldy in my hands, and I do nearly knock over a few bottles of thick liquid.

What those bottles actually are, I really, really, really don't want to know.

I try to put the images out if my mind as a set up my canvas, and begin to sketch out designs.

In the foreground, I draw Jace wreathed in heavenly fire. Isabelle and Simon - Isabelle with her whip and Simon with his fangs out - stand a little to the side and back. Alec and Magnus are on the other side of Jace. Alec has his bow drawn and pointed off to the side, and Magnus is holding one blue-wreathed hand in the air, with the other supporting a magic book. I sketch myself in just behind Jace, with a stele in my hand.

The background is the landscapes of Hell.

"What the freak is that?" Anna asks, squinting at the page.

"A game we played. And not done." I turn the canvas away from her.

—

 **Isabelle.**

—

"WAKE UP!"

Jace almost starts the day with a broken nose.

"Do that ever again," I hiss, pulling the covers up to my chin "and the deepest pits of hell will be no match for what I'll do to you."

Jace backs out of the room really fast.

With a huff, I kick back the covers and throw open my wardrobe doors.

From the racks of clothing, I select a pair of red leggings, a short black skirt, and a matching shirt with a little red jacket.

Sadly, heels are banned at school, so I deal with black combat boots with red laces.

I plait a red ribbon through my hair, dab a little lipstick and eyeliner on, and am ready to look stunning while doing anything, including eating breakfast.

Ha, breakfast.

Since a disastrous episode with the toaster, which was completely Jace's fault, the pantry has consisted entirely of cereal, cereal and more cereal.

Coincidence has it, I hate cereal.

So does Alec.

So does Jace.

So does Clary

Breakfast has basically become coffee, with whatever leftovers are in the fridge from last night.

But I do tend to draw the line at eating sushi for breakfast, so I'm going to go a little hungry today.

"The yellow smut van is coming in!" Jace yells, and I nearly spit out my coffee.

"I would ask how you know what that is." Alec barely looks up from his Japanese pancakes "But I've got a feeling that I don't want to know."

"Trust me, you don't."

"It's too early in the morning for this kind of conversation." I declare.

"You're right." Jace decides "We should talk about undressing. Or sex. Or the evilness of ducks."

"How on earth does that last one fit in?" Simon has let himself in, and is standing uncomfortably in the doorway. He's wearing jeans that fit his slender figure very nicely, and a shirt with a picture of a blond manga character and the words "You Ken run but you can't Hide".

I don't understand that. I don't intend to. I asked Clary what "Blue Exorcist" was once, and had to sit through an hour-long seminar.

"Sex fits around everything, as other things fit into anything." Jace says with a saucy wink.

Simon looks grossed out by this, and Alec appears to be considering banging his head into his Japanese pancakes.

"I was talking about the ducks. Not the other S word."

"I would much rather converse on the topic of sex. When was the last time you got laid, eh?"

I laugh at Simons expression, lazily twirling a steak knife around my fingers, and throw it so it lands a hairs breadth away from Jace's hand.

"Watch that mouth, Wayland-Morgenstern-Herondale-Lightwood." I smile sweetly "Or someone might just stitch it shut."

"Duly noted, duly decided that I don't care."

Jace and I stare each other down for a minute.

"If you guys are going to stare it out, I'm going to wait outside." The tight edge of pain in my boyfriends voice makes me turn around to look at him.

As a Daylighter who drank from the Mortal Cup, he can go into the hallowed grounds of Institutes, just not for long.

"We're going now." I say, slipping my jacket off the back of my chair and stealing a piece of Alec's okonomiyaki.

"Hey!" Alec protests.

—

 **Magnus.**

—

When I meet Alec outside of History, he looks a little ruffled and smells like Japanese cuisine.

"Hi." He smiles at me "Sorry about the funny smell, Jace thought it would be a good idea to try and steal my breakfast."

"As long as he only tries to steal your breakfast, and not you."

Alec is reduced to blushes and smiles, and I take this all in keenly.

His eyes do this cute thing when he smiles, one of them crinkles a little bit more than the other, and-

"Are you going in or not?" The girl behind Alec and I in the line asks irritably.

I briefly consider mutiny.

—

History is interesting.

And also completely boring.

While it is interesting to hear history told through the perspective of mundanes, I have actually lived through some of the things currently being described and would rather stare into Alec's eyes than learn about them again.

Alec, sadly, is preoccupied. He's frowning at a point under our desk, and poking at something with his foot. I crane my neck, trying to see what he's looking at.

It's a screwed-up piece of paper, most likely torn out of a textbook, and I fail to see what has Alec so interested in it.

As soon as the teacher turns away, Alec ducks under our desk, scoops up the page and makes it back to his seat almost before the oblivious teacher has uncapped his whiteboard marker.

The rest of the lesson becomes dedicated to ignoring the teacher, and watching Alec unfold the page.

It's tedious work, undoing every crease and trying not to rip the delicate paper. Occasionally I'll send a little wisp of magic to smooth over a particularly bad crease, or to fix a tear.

Every time I do this, he flashes me a grateful smile and his blue eyes light up, so I do this as often as possible.

When it's finally open, his mouth drops open and his expression fills with horror. I lean a little further over our table, trying to read.

I recognise a page from the Codex.

As I read the page, I know that I must have a slightly horrified expression crossing my face.

The page in about warlocks, and scribbled in the margins are two words.

 _Cat eyes?_

—

 **Jace.**

—

"I fail to see what is so important about this piece of paper." I stab my spoon into a pot of blueberry yoghurt "Unless you are related to the tree from whence it came, there is no reason for such emotional response."

And yes, I did have to use a dictionary to find those words.

"It's from the Codex!" Alec all but snarls. I cut the joking here, when Alec uses that tone, you be serious or die in pain.

"It's the page about warlocks, and someone's scribbled about cat eyes in the margins!"

"Oh." I say "Then we do have a problem."

The bell rings. Everyone manages to leave in two seconds except for Simon and I.

"Two problems. Which way is Gym?"

"The gymnasium is the big building with "gymnasium" written in all capitals along the side." Simon deadpans, trying to hit his fang teeth back into his guns and thereby stabbing himself quite badly in the hand "Ow! Ow, ow, ow!"

"That was intelligent, Wiggles." I scan the area for the fastest way to the gym.

"I was really hoping you'd forgotten that." Simon groans, wound on his hand already closing.

"Not a chance, ratboy, not a chance."

Course plotted, I set off at a brisk pace and leave Simon to catch up. Turning the first corner, I nearly run into a black-haired boy, who at first glance I think is Alec.

But no. It's the same kid who almost caught Magnus without his glamour on.

He looks up from something in his hand, exposing blue eyes colder than glaciers.

We lock eyes for a moment, and I think he's about to say something. But then he looks back down at his hand again and runs away.

—

I must say, I am quite enjoying gym.

We haven't even made it out of the locker room yet.

Simon is hiding in the corner, looking deeply scandalised at the thought of removing his nerdy shirt in front of a room of strangers.

Me?

I'm strutting around as much as I can, making a big deal out of the fact that I can't find my sports shirt. I think about half the population of the room are following my every movement with their eyes, and the other half are very deliberately looking away.

A few minutes later, I still cannot find my sports shirt.

I ransack my near-empty sports locker twice, move onto Simons locker, and then finally approach The Wall.

The Wall is a wall of hooks, and literally every hook has an item of clothing on it.

There is a very distinct possibility that someone has put my shirt up here, perhaps in an endeavour to observe me for longer, perhaps in an effort to annoy me.

The locker room empties as I begin to sort through the shirts.

Kurosaki. Jackson. Okumura.

Man, some people have weird names.

Winchester. Johnson-Smith. Fenton.

I wrinkle my nose at the last one. It looks like its been here for the last century and - is that blood? Disgust forgotten, I lift the corner of the shirt to inspect it. Doing so, I notice a flash of black on the wall.

I lift the shirt further, and see the unmistakeable shape of a half-finished "Destroy" rune. Instinctively, I leap back.

As I do this, I notice yet ANOTHER thing.

And people say men are non-observant.

The blood crusting this old gym shirt is dark with age, with unmistakeable flecks of green in it.

It looks sort of like ectoplasm...

"LIGHTWOOD!" A voice yells.

Simon sticks his head through the door.

"Um, the teacher is shouting." He says lamely.

"Give me a minute. Is this blood?"

"Let me help him find his shoe, we won't be long." Simon calls out to the teacher, coming fully into the locker room."Is what blood?"

I hold out the shirt. Simon inhales through his nose, and instantly gags.

"Yep. That's some seriously messed up blood, but it's blood. Who did that belong to?"

"Someone with the last name Fenton." I say, continuing to fumble for my shirt.

A sharp intake of air behind me doesn't make me turn, owing to the fact that I've actually found my shirt.

"What's the big deal?" I ask, pulling the shirt over my head.

"You haven't heard about Daniel Fenton? Of course you haven't. I only heard about it through Eric. Well, Daniel Fenton was a student at this school when it was still called Casper High, so ages ago, and he was murdered. They say his chest was cut open, and that something was removed. But all his organs were still in place, which never made sense to me. There was a mark on his forehead. It looked sort of like-" Simon pulls a pen out if his pocket and scrawls something on the back of a receipt "-that."

I inspect the symbol. It looks a bit like an infinity symbol, but with three loops instead of two. In a sudden wash of memory, I recall its meaning.

"That's a rune." I say "It means something like; supernatural, ghost. And check this out." I point at the wall "Destructive rune."

"Let's go." Simon says nervously "I'm not liking this at all."

—

 **Could not resist the names, bonus points if you get them.**

—

 **Clary.**

—

I'm starting to get pretty scared.

The more I think about it, the more I see.

The things in the storeroom were old warlock trophies. Every last one of those objects was once part of a living, breathing warlock who lost their life too soon.

It's making me feel sick.

So, naturally, I have to go back into the storeroom and carry out two kilograms of clay.

This time, I make sure to turn on the lights before I enter.

I lift the first bag of clay, and do a complicated little dance to get out of the room without bumping into any warlock remains. The second bag is in the lower shelf, and as I reach for it I notice a cold spot.

I pull back my hand, and extend the other.

Same cold spot.

When I lower my head to look properly, I see a slight glow.

It's the sort of light that you can't really tell if it's blue or green, and it's emitting from a box.

With quick, expert movements, I pull out the box and find the starting point of the glow.

It's a jar, made of thick glass, with a bronze lid screwed firmly on. It's also at least ten degrees cooler than room temperature.

Carved into the lid is what looks like a three-looped infinity symbol. A tag is stuck on the bottom, but I don't have time to read it before I hear footsteps approaching.

I shove the box back, tuck the jar in my jacket pocket and pick up the clay, once again doing some fancy footwork to get out the door.

I'm going to have a lot to discuss at lunch.

—

"-and then I found a half finished rune on the wall." Jace announces.

Simon laughs nervously.

"It's almost like someone's out to get us."

"I hold hope that your theory may be proven wrong." Magnus looks at the torn-out "Codex" page, normally youthful features creasing in concern.

"I found this." I say, pulling out the jar and sliding it into the table.

Everyone stares at it.

Jace breaks the silence.

"Simon, give me that receipt."

Isabelle throws her hands in the air, and I think she's contemplating strangling Jace.

"Jonathan Christopher of the many last names, now is NOT a time for bets!"

"It's not a bet!" My boyfriend protests, sounding so unlike his normal self that we actually start listening.

He unfolds the receipt, and shows us a drawing very similar to the carving on the lid.

"Years and years ago, this symbol was drawn on the forehead of a murdered student." Jace says, shaking the drawing for emphasis "It means; ghost, supernatural. Ghosts have cores, of stuff like plants and electricity."

"The ultimate prize for killing a ghost was its core!" Isabelle gasps.

"How was Daniel Fenton a ghost?" Simon asks, totally confused.

"That is a very long story."

We all jump, and look around frantically to see who spoke.

There's no one else in the courtyard, save for Mr. Foley, the AIT teacher, who's got his face in a PDA and probably wouldn't notice if a bomb dropped.

Perhaps it's the fact that he's watched a more horror movies that the rest of us combined, but Simon figures out what's going on first.

"Are we speaking to the ghost of Daniel Fenton?" He asks clearly, wincing when he remembers that Mr. Foley can probably hear him from his seat across the yard.

For about thirty seconds, it's total silence and a mounting sense of awkwardness.

"Yes."

Isabelle actually leaps out of her chair.

"What the hell was that?!" She yells.

Alec picks at the cuff of his dark green sweater.

"I'm going to go out on a limb and say that we're talking to the ghost of Daniel Fenton."

At this, Mr. Foley leaps to his feet and crosses the courtyard in about two seconds.

Simon yelps, covering his teeth and Magnus quickly restores his glamour.

"Who are you talking to?" He practically pleads. I can see the hope in his eyes.

"No one." Magnus waves his fingers, casting a little spell.

The African-Americans eyes glaze over, and he wanders off, dropping his wallet on the ground.

"That wasn't me!" Magnus says even as Alec turns to him.

"I'll return it." I say "I've finished eating. Jace, put my stuff in my locker if I'm not back by the end of lunch."

With that, I go and pick up the wallet before chasing after Mr. Foley.

Two pieces of paper slip loose, and I fumble to catch them. Secured, I find myself holding two photos. They both contain a far younger Mr. Foley, along with a pale girl with black hair and purple lipstick. The third person changes, and I guess they were taking turns holding the camera.

In the first photo is a black-haired blue-eyed boy that looks a lot like Alec, chucking a casual "peace" sign at the camera. The second contains a boy with pure white hair and toxic green eyes, who I realise is FLOATING behind the younger Mr. Foley and the other girl, with an arm around each of their shoulders, smiling and laughing.

He's a ghost.

There's probably some Clave policy stating that ghosts may have no contact with humans, but screw the Clave.

I tuck the photos back into the wallet and run after the AIT teacher.

"Mr. Foley!" I call "Mr. Foley!"

He turns around, to see me waving his wallet at him.

"You dropped it in the courtyard." I explain to his confused expression.

"Oh. Thanks." The teacher says, opening it to check the contents.

My phone buzzes. I fumble it out and check it.

Jace has texted me an update on what's going on back at the table.

«Y R U taking so long? We found old photo of DF.»

Attached underneath is a photo of the exact same boy in Mr. Foleys wallet.

I make a split second decision that will either get us a new informant or get me jailed for being insane.

"Mr. Foley..." I ask "Did you by any chance know a Daniel Fenton?"

The freeze-frame response tells me all I need to know.

"We think we might know who killed him. I found his core in the art room, and we've heard his ghost."

I seriously hope that Mr. Foley knows what I'm talking about, otherwise I must sound like a total idiot. Or a crazy person. Or both.

"We think whoever killed him is still in this school."

Mr. Foley takes a deep, steadying breath.

"Consider yourself exempt from all detentions from now on. Try not to get caught."

—

 **Danny.**

—-

It's a trap.

This whole place is a trap.

Why can't they see that?

I don't know who's next. It's either the warlock or the vampire, and I can't watch both of them at once.

I'm weak now, barely a shadow of what I was as Phantom. I can only appear for short amounts of time in my human form, and then I spend hours completely exhausted, unable to move. And I'm not really getting anything done in that form either. The instant I muster enough energy to speak, my body starts flickering. My ghost form would have the Clave down on me like the Box Ghost on a shipment of cardboard, and I can't speak well no matter what form I take.

If I only had my core.

The redheaded Shadowhunter has it, in a jar with the outside coated in ectoranium. If she opened it, then maybe...

—

 **Simon**.

I swear this school has a mind of its own. That door was not there three seconds ago.

I frown at my schedule, frown at the numbers over the door, and frown at the idea of all thins frowning going on.

Now frown sounds weird.

With a hiss which I frighten myself with, I spin around and nearly bump into the drama teacher, Ms Manson.

Ms Manson is nice unless you tick her off. In which case, run for the hills and you may possibly live.

"Lost?" She asks.

"Yep." I reply.

"What do you have?"

"Maths."

"Go that way. It'll take you the longest."

"Thanks."

She's also a badass when it comes to ditching classes.

I wander off in that direction.

After a few minutes, a chill runs up my spine and I clap a hand over my mouth to hide my fangs.

Maybe this time, I'll actually see what's causing this response. I turn in a slow, predatory circle.

Once again, I'm scaring myself.

Standing with his feet a few inches off the floor (which makes it floating, get your thoughts right, Lewis), is a ghost.

Grey hair, pale green eyes, dull grey suit that I dearly hope is not spandex. His form flickers and shakes, barely here. When he speaks, the echo and the flickering combined makes him sound like an old radio with bad reception.

"What do you want?" I ask with some difficulty, as my fangs seem to have a mind of their own and are still out.

"Daylighter, you have to get out of here." He says quickly, sharp teeth flashing in his mouth. Though he's standing (floating, whatever) in front of me, his voice issues from somewhere to my left.

"You and your friends. This whole place is a death trap."

"That, I knew." I roll my eyes.

"I mean, this whole school is a trap. A trap for the supernatural. They killed me, they took my core. Open-" his form totally disappears for a second.

At the end. Of the hall, I see Ms Manson.

Oh, fudgecake.

The ghost manages to reform for a few more seconds.

"Open the jar!" He shouts, voice faint and faraway, sound flickering spastically from one end of the room to the other "Get your friend to open the jar!"

This time, he's really gone when he flickers away.

So are my chances of not getting busted by a scary drama teacher.

I am so re-dead.

Ms Manson looks at where the ghost disappeared, looks at me, and points to her mouth.

"Part of a Halloween costume?" I offer.

"It's June."

I swear I hear a slap, like someone just smacked their forehead.

"Go to class. Take out the teeth, or admit that they're real."

I mumble something under my breath that my mother would definitely not approve of and begin to turn away.

"Oh, and for the record?"

I stop and look back at the teacher.

"No Halloween costume has a FullMetal Alchemist shirt paired with a Sword Art Online jacket. Just no."

Smiling a little at the teachers knowledge of anime, I go to class.

—

 **A/N I know the colours are wrong. I did that to show that he's weak, and sort of faded.**

 **And SORRY, couldn't resist the references. I've become a total anime nerd lately.**

—

 **Isabelle.**

—

Despite everything that's going on, despite the fact that I haven't seen Simon, Magnus or Alec since lunch, I still go to the drama club.

Auditions are over quickly, and there are about ten of us girls sitting backstage while the boys are out onstage, waiting for their auditions.

"Lets play truth or dare." A girl with short blonde hair suggests.

I know her name starts with E.

It might be Ella. Or Emma. Or Ellie.

"Great!" Another girl, taller with light red/brown hair agrees. I know that her name is Leila.

Hold on, it might be Lily...

Alright, I admit that I don't know anyone's names.

The game starts out ordinarily enough. Stuff like "I dare you to stand on that chair" and "Who was your first crush?"

Then it comes around to me, and I know enough about mundane schools to know that this is usually when the initiation trial comes in.

"Isabelle. Truth or dare?" Ella/Emma/Ellie asks.

"Dare." I say boldly, and Leila/Lily titters behind her hand.

"I dare you to go into the Red Room."

"The what?" I ask, completely baffled.

The girl who got dared to sing "I'm a Little Teapot" sighs and glares in the general direction of Ella/Emma/Ellie.

"It's the door that has "Storeroom 2" written on it in big letters." She explains "It's called the red room because... Of the big red patch in the middle of the floor."

"Someone forgot their tampons?" I joke, and am rewarded with a few snickers and a few facepalms.

"Don't joke about that." The girl who got dared to hop around whistling the tune to "Shaun the Sheep" says sharply "It's called the Red Room, because of the big patch of red where somebody died."

That shuts me up.

"Sorry. I didn't know."

Silence.

"Well, do you accept the dare?" Ella/Emma/Ellie asks.

"I do." I say coolly, making my rise even more graceful than usual just to make her jealous.

I proceed to Storeroom 2 at a reasonable pace. The handle is stained with red, and for once I wish I'd listened to Jace and packed rubber gloves into my carry-it-everywhere-demon-slaying kit.

With some hesitance, I turn the stained handle gently.

The hinges make sounds like dying cats, and a wave of dust makes me cover my nose and mouth to muffle a sneeze.

The room looks as though hasn't been touched since the student died.

A desk with textbooks open stands in the far corner, coated in a thick blanket of dust. A pen has rolled onto the floor.

Notes with math formulae and the like are tacked above the desk, some hanging by the barest threads of tape.

In the centre of the room, as promised, is the dark stain of blood where someone breathed their last.

I automatically incline my head in a traditional mark of respect for the poor soul who lost their life.

"Hold up." I think "Is this where Daniel Fenton died? It can't hurt to take a look.".

Treading carefully, I cross to the desk and read what was written in the textbook.

Blue pen is scratched into the paper, the ending stained with brownish-red. Its a stark difference from the mathematical setup of the rest of the page, and I bite my lip when I realise what it is.

In a messy scrawl, someone has written out their last moments and last wishes.

Feeling almost guilty, I begin to read.

"S, T; you can tell my parents about the accident. J, do something good with your life. Mom and Dad, love you guys, it wasn't your fault. Take care of Dani."

I have to look away.

A flicker of light causes me to stop reading these last remnants and turn around, fully expecting to see either a staff member, one of the girls, or a ghost.

Third time lucky.

He's younger than me, sporting faded grey hair, and his form is very unstable. With a stomach-turning lurch, I realise that there is a scoop missing from his chest.

"Open the jar!" He calls, voice sounding from somewhere above me "Get tomato head to open the jar! It's almost too late!"

Then, with a slight burned-citrus smell, he's gone.

I exit the room and close the door gently. Walking briskly, I return to the group of girls, pulling out my phone.

"Did it." I say "Got to go, family emergency."

—

 **Danny.**

—

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

I just had to go wasting all my energy begging a Shadowhunter to release my core, and now he's been caught.

If he dies, if either of them die, I'll never forgive myself.

I had a chance to warn them, but I didn't.

—

 **Simon.**

—

It's six forty-two PM, and I'm trying to study Algebra.

Key word: trying.

My phone vibrates, the Star Wars theme song ringing out.

I flip it open, check the caller ID and answer when I see that it's Isabelle.

"You. Here. Now."

"Where's here?" I ask.

"School."

"I just got out of there!"

"Simon, this is serious. I just met a ghost, and he's saying that we're in da-" her voice cuts off in a blast of static. I pull it away from my ear, squint at the full signal bar and return it to its usual place.

"Isabelle? Isabelle?"

Instead of her voice, I hear a sharp yell and a clatter.

The flickering voice of the ghost fades in.

"Open the jar! Please, it's almost too late! Open the jar and release my core! I can save your-"

The ghosts voice cuts off as the phone is picked up.

"Hey kid." A dark voice chortles "I have your frien. If you want her, bring back the jar before midnight. The one with the bronze lid. If you don't, your little friend dies."

There's a crunch as the person on the other end stomps on the phone.

Hesitating for only a second, I stuff my phone into my pocket and storm down the stairs.

"Where're you going?" Mom calls.

"Sorry Mom, ask Becky about the Du Morte stuff. Tell her it came back, and she'll explain!" I rush out the door before she can ask any more questions.

"Sixteen, watches MA15+ horror shows, twice undead, fights demons, still scared of my Mom." I mutter to myself, breaking into a run as soon as I pass the corner.

In a few minutes, I'm banging on the Institute door.

Jace opens it, a seraph blade slung over his shoulder.

"IsabellesindangerthisguywantsthejarClaryhasifwedontgiveittohimIsabelledies!" I belt out in one solid block. Jace blinks, totally taken aback.

"Say that all over again, in Sexy Beast. I don't speak Panicked Idiot."

At another time, I probably would laugh or slap him. Not now.

"Isabelle's in danger, this guy wants the jar Clary has and if we don't give it to him Isabelle dies."

"Duck pond." Jace curses before leaning back into the sacred place and yelling "ALEC! CLARY! GET DOWN HERE!"

In a matter of seconds, Alec is there with his bow and arrows. Clary arrives half a minute later, totally out of breath.

"I was. On the roof." She gasps "You need. More elevators."

"Do you still have that jar?" I ask.

"Yeah, right here. Why?"

"Someone's using Isabelle as a bargaining chip to get it back." I say "Uh, what is it?"

"We think it's a ghost core." Jace explains.

It all hits me at once.

"THAT'S what he wanted!" I pull my hair in frustration "Open the jar! The ghost wanted his core back!"

Alec starts forward.

"Clary, open the jar."

With a grunt of exertion, she twists the lid off. A ball of blue-white light rises out of it, before zooming off in the direction of the school.

I resist the urge to ask if that was it.

Clary puts the lid back on.

"You can see that it's empty." She complains. Alec swipes the jar out of her hands.

"I can deal with that." He says "Meet me at the supermarket near the school in ten minutes."

—

When Aled jogs up to us nine minutes and forty-two seconds later, the jar once more contains a glowing light.

"Now, it'll explode." Alec says with a grin "I love my warlock boyfriend."

"So we have to get the boom jar to the school before midnight." Jace says.

"Why's it always midnight?" I ask "Why not midday? Or afternoon?"

"Midnight's more mysterious." Clary reasons.

"Yeah, but we're going to feel this in the morning." Jace yawns.

"I'll go first, if you hear me scream really loudly, come in and save my butt." I say, pocketing the jar "I trust you not to be seen."

"Simon!" Jace calls after me "Knife. Take. Use vampirey stuff as last resort."

Before I can chicken, I turn around and stalk towards the school.

—

One thing villains never mention is where exactly to find them.

They say meet them at the school, but where in the school?

This is a pretty big school, if all the getting lost hasn't given it away!

I inhale through my nose, and nearly throw up at the onslaught of stenches.

Sewer, garbage, gym socks, rubber, wood, burnt citrus, cinnamon and Isabelle's perfume.

I think I'll try Eau De Girlfriend.

Trying not to prowl, I wander in that direction, trying to seem aimless.

Just a little human, trying to save his girlfriend.

As footsteps fall into place behind me, I trace a hand over the hilt of the dagger Jace gave me.

Then I begin to think about misplaced aggression, and who deserves it.

Not the pavement, not the tree...maybe the idiot behind me who tried to kill my girlfriend!

With a snarl to send demons crying, I spin around, bringing up the dagger, and come face-to-face with a baffled Mr Foley.

I groan and sheathe the weapon.

"On a scale of one to ten, how screwed am I?" I ask no one in particular.

"Eleven." A voice behind me says, accompanied by the pricking of a knife into the back of my neck.

—

 **Tucker (Mr. Foley).**

—

I freeze at the exact same moment that Simon does.

The person holding the knife is a young man, looking barely older than the person he's threatening. There's a glint of something around his wrist, and when he adjusts his grip I see the shape of some sort of Jewish symbol.

"Drop the knife." The boy threatens.

There's a clatter of metal as the knife hits the pavement.

Moving with a brutal intent, the boy pulls out a garrotte and loops it around Simons neck. Following this is a sound like cold water hitting a hot pan, and both boys leap apart.

"Ow!" Simon yelps, clapping a hand to his neck. When he removes it, I see the burned shape of a Star of David. The other boy shakes his bracelet from his sleeve and waves it in Simons' face. The student flinches backward.

"Damned!" The boy screeches, slipping his hand into his pocket and removing it clutching a cross "Damned!"

He thrusts the cross into Simons face.

A crazy theory bursts to life in the back of my head.

If ghosts exist...why not vampires?

Simon laughs. My theory is confirmed when I see the glint of needlelike fangs.

"Wrong religion, buddy."

With a dull thunk, the other boy keeps over unconscious. In a swift movement, he's crouching next to the nameless boy. With a stab of dread, I realise that I might be about to bear witness to the trademark blood-sucking that seems to follow vampires like the plague.

What I get instead is a clink of metal handcuffs as the boy is bound to a skinny sapling.

"What?" Simon asks, upon seeing my expression.

"You-" giving up on speech, I point to the bound boy, to Simon and to my own canines.

"Oh, please." Simon snorts "You didn't actually think I was going to...you did, didn't you? I'll have you know that I was a vegetarian when I was alive, and that ain't changing now."

My eloquent reply is a splutter.

"How long?" I manage.

Simon tilts his hand back and forth.

"Two thousand years, give or take?"

I am struck dumb, until Simon starts to laugh.

"Nah, just kidding. Almost a year now."

"I do not know how to react to that."

"I know that you need to leave, and I'm going to go and get my friend back."

"I'm a teacher, I can't leave you here."

"And I'm not human, and I can make you leave. I don't want to, but I can."

This whole thing sounds way too much like overshadowing.

"Fine, I'm going." I say, starting to walk away.

"If you see my friends at the supermarket, tell them to follow quietly, emphasis on quietly!" Simon calls after me.

—

 **Danny.**

—

Reunited. Finally.

I have my core again.

The cold beats throughout my body, a rhythm not unlike a heartbeat.

Sliver by sliver, I feel my powers begin to return.

—

 **Jace.**

—

I will never admit it, but I'm a little scared for Simon at the moment. I know Clary will kill someone if her parabatai dies (again, may I add).

Alec is pacing like a nervous wreck, and I consider asking him to stop.

But he's wearing an expression that means the first person to talk to him will lose an important body part, so I shut my mouth.

Clary shudders suddenly, and I turn to look at her.

"Spazz." She says. I raise an eyebrow, but give up on conversation.

With a quack of doom, a duck appears. Its small, evil eyes latch onto me, and I am instantly on top of the nearest garbage can, screaming loudly enough to raise the dead. Alec startles about a foot into the air, accidentally releasing his nocked arrow. Clary leaps sideways to avoid the shot, and cannons into me. I fall off the garbage can with a crash, straight into the path of the small demon. I shriek again, this time somehow making it to the top of a lamppost.

"MAKE IT GO AWAY!" I scream, clinging to the lamppost.

"What?" Alec yells up to me.

"DUCK!" I shout "ALEC, IT'S LOOKING AT ME! ALEC, HELP!"

Alec does not look inclined in the least to help me. I decide to use a little leverage.

"GET RID OF IT, OR I'LL TELL MAGNUS THAT YOU'RE DATING RAPHAEL SANTIAGO!"

It is now that I realise that Alec has a bow, very sharp arrows, an impeccable aim, and incentive to shoot me.

"We both know you wouldn't do that." Alec says with a sugary sweet smile, a new arrow on his bow and the strung taut.

For the innocent, modest boy he is, he can be scary sometimes.

"I'm not even gonna ask." A slightly familiar voice says.

Maintaining a tight grip on the lamppost, I turn my head to survey the newcomer.

It's Mr Foley, the teacher for robotics or something.

I wave with a blinding smile.

"Please remove the duck from these provinces."

Me Foley looks at the duck of doom, and the duck looks back at him.

"Erm, pass." He finally says "Your friend told me to tell you to follow him, very quietly with emphasis on quietly."

Clary bites down on her nail nervously, and I swear I hear it crack.

"Is he okay?" She asks.

"He got a Star of David burned into the side of his neck." The teacher offers "I always thought it was crosses, to be honest."

"Most people do." Alec says "Garlic has no effect either, unless Isabelle's tried to cook it."

"I quite enjoyed her garlic." I say.

"You enjoyed hitting passers-by with it." Alec corrects "One of whom happened to be the head of the New York vampire clan."

"Oh, that's why he's so mad at me." I realise "I thought he'd looked in a reflective surface."

I hear a smack as Clary's hand collides with her forehead.

"Look, are we going or not?"

—

 **Isabelle.**

—-

Many girls may be content to wait around for a man to rescue them.

Me?

I'm not.

I've been working at the knots binding me for hours, talking the ears off the guard at the same time.

So far, three guards have run screaming.

The new one looks like he'll be easy to send running.

He's tall, his thin shoulders suggest youth, and I can't see his face underneath a grey hoodie.

My throat aches from talking for so long, and I swallow as I lean back into the uncomfortable rope, resting for a moment.

Something crawls over my foot, and I look down, hoping that it's not a cockroach.

It's a cockroach.

With some fluent swearing, I shake my foot madly until the thing flies away into the gloom. Shuddering, I try not to think about how many buddies this guy might have.

When I look back up, the young guard is actually in my cell.

I'm ashamed to say that I jump a little.

"Shh." He whispers.

I prepare to kick, punch, and possibly bite, but all he does is rest a hand on my shoulder and close his eyes in concentration. A moment later, a very eerie feeling comes over me, and the ropes fall to the floor. I look up with a slight gasp to see the eyes of the young guard glowing green.

"Come on." He whispers "I don't know how long I can control him for."

—-

We make it to the outer defences before my new ally starts losing control. At first, the hold on my wrists grows a lot tighter, and I bite back a hiss of annoyance.

The young guard makes a small sound of effort, before the grip on my wrists loosens.

"I hate doing this." The guy mutters.

"Hate doing what?" I ask tactlessly.

"Controlling someone." Is the short answer I receive.

—-

A few minutes and several lapses from my ally later, we start hearing yelling.

"I don't care if you're with the government! My girlfriend is in there and I will kick your men-in-black-parody asses to Switzerland unless you get out of my way!"

"That's Simon!" I turn around to inform the guy of this only to find him pressed against the wall, eyes wide with terror and glowing like spotlights "What?!" I spin around, reaching for the bangle that conceals my whip.

Nothing.

"The Grey." He stutters "They're the ones who hurt me."

"Then I'll kick their asses to Switzerland, if my boyfriend doesn't do it first."

Some very loud crashing suggests that Simon has started the ass-kicking without me.

"You did not start without me!" I roar, pulling off my bangle and charging down the hall with my whip swinging madly.

—

 **Danny.**

—-

I'm afraid.

They're battling the people who killed me. I... I don't want to fight The Grey. Not after what they did to Danielle and Plasmius.

From further down the hall, I hear screaming and the unmistakeable sound of a whip cracking.

"Holy cow." I murmur, my words spoken in an unfamiliar voice.

"Holy cow indeed." Comes an equally unfamiliar voice, just before something slams into the back of my head.

I am knocked to my knees, but I don't pass out. My control over this body slips, and I mutter a quick apology as I bring the body back down to the floor.

"Sorry? Sorry for what?" The blade of a sword presses into the back of my bruised head, and the host begins to fight for control of his body. It's his voice that answers.

"For this."

He sweeps the legs out from the girl behind me, her hair forms a curtain of red as she falls. The battle for control of this body makes his movements sluggish, but the girl still doesn't move in time.

The young guard forces me to the back of his mind, picks up the sword, and presses it into the girls throat.

—-

 **Clary.**

—

I stare at the face of my attacker.

Well, to be fair, I did attack him first, but DETAILS.

The blade at my throat trembles, and the boys face creases with concentration. His brown eyes blink rapidly.

Suddenly he leaps backwards, clawing at his head with his hands and squirming for a few seconds, until he goes very still.

I grab my sword, and scramble back to my feet as he raises his head.

His eyes, radioactive green, glow in the dim hallway.

I know that they were brown three seconds ago.

We kind of stare at each other for a few seconds.

"This is always where they cut to an ad on TV." He suddenly mumbles to himself "Your friend Isabelle is around the corner, something about kicking butt to Switzerland."

"Why aren't you there helping her?" I ask, gripping my sword again.

He hesitates before he answers.

"I don't want to fight The Grey. They kill my kind for sport."

"Hm. Well, come along if you change your mind." With this, I turn and run down the hall.

I round the corner at high speed and skid to a hold. Simon is fighting with the knife Jace gave him, and Isabelle is a streak of destruction, laying waste to all in her path. A legion of people in grey are running around, brandishing various weapons and yelling. In all, it's complete pandemonium.

Pandemonium about to take a turn for the worst, I note.

These gurus are getting smarter by the second. I see Isabelle almost get shot, stabbed and strangled in under two seconds. I also see those three people go down hard as she swings her whip.

"Gyah!" I yell, leaping into the fray.

—

It all fades to a blur for a few minutes. I'm aware that Alec and Magnus arrive, the latter causing some epic chaos with a few well-aimed spells.

These spells come back and bite him, as almost all the people immediately go for him.

Suddenly, we're losing. Isabelle - cursing bloody murder - is cuffed and her whip is taken from her.

Still, she squirms, bites, swears, and generally makes life horrible for the person trying to drag her away.

I get caught next, and a sharp pain through my wrist makes me drop my sword with a curse.

Two more people charge into the room, waving guns and yelling loudly.

Mr Foley and Ms Manson.

Well, I never thought I'd see the day that Mr Foley moved faster than your average slug, but that day is here.

A dozen people in grey are taken out of the game before another manages to subdue the teachers.

The four of us are cuffed and tied to a post while we watch Magnus try to keep up a shield to deflect bullets. I can see it flickering, it won't hold for much longer.

When it finally drops, Magnus shouts for Alec to run.

They both get caught anyway.

That's life for you.

For some reason, I notice that Magnus still has the brown-eyes glamour.

The next few minutes consist of us watching around twenty adults trying to catch a scrawny teenage vampire. It would almost be entertaining, if our lives weren't in danger.

Finally, one of them catches Simon, and I think that that's it. But then he turns his head and bites the Grey woman.

As hard as he can, with his fangs.

She screams like a stuck pig, leaping away and shaking her arm.

Another four minutes and Simon's handcuffed next to me, looking a little bit nauseous.

"Well done, Lewis." Magnus says drily "You lasted eight minutes more than the rest of us."

Simon mumbles something. Isabelle kicks him.

One of the people steps forward, hand resting on the gun at his hip.

"Manson, Foley." He acknowledges "Former associates of the Ghost Boy of Amity Park. I don't know any of the rest of you, why don't you introduce yourselves?"

The smile he gives us is pure oil.

None of us talk.

"I know that you're not human." The guy continues, pointing at Magnus "So thereby, I have no problem doing this."

He pulls out a gun and aims it right between Magnus's eyes.

"Well." Magnus ignores the gun "Somehow, I never imagined going like this."

A sick smile twists the mans face as he clicks the safety off, and his finger caresses the trigger. There's a loud pop, and we all flinch and shut our eyes. It all goes dead quiet.

When I reopen my eyes, it doesn't make much of a difference. I still can't see a thing.

"You know, I imagined heaven being a little brighter." Alec's voice comes from my left.

On my right, Simon snorts.

"Trust me, if this was heaven, you'd hear me screaming."

The people all start talking loudly and quickly, something about their lights not working - then they all go quiet as a green light issues from the blackness of the doorframe.

The boy I met in the corridor stands there, eyes a toxic green and burning with anger.

"Miss me?" He asks with a lopsided grin.

It's another explosion of noise as all the people panic, yell into walkie-talkies and point their guns in the direction of the boy.

"Oh please. I'm overshadowing. Do you think killing me twice will make a difference?"

He receives an answer in the firm of a gazillion bullets.

I screw my eyes shut.

And open them again a few seconds later.

A shield of green energy surrounds the boy.

"Ectoplasm." I hear either Alec or Magnus mumble "Ghost energy."

"That's right, ghost energy." The boy says, before turning to the people in grey with a dangerous glow in his eyes.

"And you are all about to learn why you don't mess with ghosts."

—

 **Danny.**

—

Several explosions and a lot of dumb luck later, the Shadowhunters are free and the members of The Grey are getting a well deserved butt-kicking. I'm in the middle of all this, trying to avoid bullets coming from at least seven directions at once and wondering why on earth I decided to join this fight.

"Thanks for showing!" Carrot top shouts, ploughing past me and waving her sword "Who am I actually talking to right now?"

"I'm not the guard, if that's what your asking. My name's-"

A spray of bullets shoots into the air. I leap out of the way, pick up a gun and fire off a few rounds before breaking it in half over someone's head.

"Mark of Cain in your FACES!" The vampire yells, laughing as he careens past me "Thank you, Raziel!"

I sort of stare at him, as one does when someone starts laughing in the midst of a battle.

In this moment of distraction, a hand clamps down on my shoulder, and I instinctively bite it, hearing but not processing the screams of pain as my ghostly venom burns in their hand. I had no clue that I'd be able to use that while overshadowing.

Fangs and venom. Made me feel like a fricking ghost vampire at first.

For all you pubescent teens who think you have it bad, try having to deal with pimples, ghost attacks, extracurricular grade-boosters, hiding your non-human status from your parents, and having retractable fangs that never retract when you need them to.

Yeah, it sucked.

I duck and roll as I nearly get decapitated by another spray of bullets, and kick out the legs from under several Greys at once. I freeze their wrists to the floor.

"I hope you get frostbite." I snarl at one of them.

Another Grey comes up behind me, and I roundhouse kick them in the place before throwing them across the room with an ectoblast.

I then swear multiple times and do the I-burned-my-hand dance.

"Note to self; no ectoplasmic energy blasts. They burn." I mumble, elbowing another in the face "DAMNIT HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?!"

"Estimated around thirty to begin with." The dark-haired Shadowhunter who commented on ghost energy says, firing off a few bolts from his crossbow "The confines make them seem more numerous."

"Uh huh. How many left?"

"Ten. Eight. Ooh, that had to hurt. Seven."

Suddenly, a burning pain shoots throughout the hosts body, originating from the small of the back. I am thrown out of the body, and hit the ground hard.

After a few dazed, what-the-flip-just-happened seconds, I leap back into the fight with renewed vigour.

I don't think about the people in the room who work under the laws that killed (re-killed, whatever) me, I don't think about the consequences of being recognised.

I just fight.

—

 **Isabelle.**

—

My brain is telling me that there can only be a dozen enemies left at the most, but my eyes beg to differ.

"DAMNIT HOW MANY OF YOU ARE THERE?!" The overshadowed boy shouts in frustration, elbowing someone in the face.

"Estimated around thirty to begin with." Alec shoots down a few men "The confines make them seem more numerous."

"Uh huh. How many left?"

"Ten. Eight."

I duck and whirl, kicking an enemy in the...place.

"Ooh, that had to hurt. Seven."

I see the person sneaking up behind the pair too late, and as I open my mouth to yell she jams something into the overshadowed boys back.

A being falls out of the guard and hits the ground hard. Seconds later, it leaps to its feet, eyes blazing in anger.

Across its chest is a familiar symbol, a symbol that identifies the being as a he, and deadly, and a target.

A DP, white on black. The symbol of Danny Phantom.

The lectures drilled into us by Professor Kaye ring through my mind, thousands of scraps of information recalled in under a second.

"WILL attack you on sight." "He's venomous, don't let him bite you." "If you get the chance, DESTROY him."

Alec and I fall back into fighting positions, bracing for the attack.

It...doesn't come?

The ghost keeps fighting the people in grey, and as my brain clicks along the familiar route of assessing an enemy's fighting style, I realise that he's using defensive moves.

The terrible venom and murderous brutality I've been told of us non existent, leaving a mixture of martial arts moves and snarls that seem to serve only to scare the grey suits.

"GET DOWN!"

Boom.

An explosion rattles the room, support pillars crumbling and the roof buckling.

Magnus swears, and forms a shield around himself and Clary, who's nearest.

I look up to see a chunk of ceiling falling towards Alec and I.

I don't scream. At the last second, a glowing green shield rises around Alex and I. The semi-translucent figure of Danny Phantom stands strong in the falling room, hands held out and eyes closed in concentration.

Is he...making this shield?

"He's making the shield!" Alec seems to read my thoughts "Why? We haven't done anything to help him! We've done the opposite!"

"I'm not complaining."

It feels like it takes forever for the room to stop shaking.

Alec and I stare through the walls of ectoplasmic energy at the rubble piled around us.

"How do we get out of this?" I ask aloud.

"Grab the arm and hang on."

I almost decapitate the ghost holding up the shield.

"Or I can leave you alone, if you'd prefer!"

"We'll take the arm." Alec gives me a look that dares me to suggest otherwise.

Holding onto the arm of your sworn enemy is a strange concept, but I don't really want to die.

Danny Phantom seems teepee fatuous at having two highly trained Shadowhunters hanging onto his arms, but gets over it and flies through the roof, putting us down on stable ground before flying back down.

Clary and Magnus are pulled up next, followed by an angry Jace. I didn't even notice him turn up.

The two teachers are deposited next, and Ms Manson slaps Danny Phantom.

She slaps him and yells at him for letting her think he was dead.

His voice is cold and a little emotionless as he answers.

"Sam, I am dead. No more Fenton."

"There's someone else down there." I get in the way before a full on fight can occur.

"I'm going."

With that, the ghost dives back into the ground. A few minutes later he resurfaces, empty-handed.

My throat tightens with worry, and a sick feeling churns in my stomach.

"Which part of the room was he in?" Danny Phantom asks, "I only put up the shields around you two and goldilocks here."

"He's in there." Clary insists, touching her parabatai rune "I'd feel it if he was gone."

"Don't hold your breath."

"He can't be dead." I mumble on repeat, clutching Alec's arm "He can't be dead, he bloody wont dare be dead. I will claw my way up to Heaven and drag him back down to earth."

"Aw, you think I'll go to heaven?" Simons voice sounds from thin air, right in front of me.

"Damn you, Phantom!" I scream as Simon becomes visible, and is immediately tackled by Clary "What took you so long?!"

The white-haired ghost shrugs.

"He was buried pretty well. I didn't see him until he tried to bite me."

"Move, Clary." I order, before throwing my arms around Simon.

"If you ever do that to me again, I'll- I'll-"

"I love you, Isabelle."

"I love you too, Simon."

As I glance up, I see a white head disappear into the shadows.

—

 **Danny.**

—

A long time ago, a Clave prophet saw a terrible future where I became Him.

The Clave sentenced me to death, so that future would never happen.

A long time ago, a government agent saw the potential energy contained within ghosts.

The agent condemned me to experimentation.

Then some new information came to light.

I was half-human.

The government agent backed off, realising that humans and ghosts actually weren't that different.

The Clave didn't.

The Grey, a mixture of Shadowhunters and rebel government agents, was formed.

Their sole purpose? To destroy me.

However, I didn't die at the hands of the Grey.

I died at the hands of a Shadowhunter.

—

A/N

And CUT!

I did it! I actually, freaking did it!

I published a complete fanfiction!

Dunno what I was thinking when I wrote it, though.

Oh right, road trip.

Most of my stories are born out of road trip boredom.


End file.
